AFC Wimbledon: 2017 transfer disaster should be a real warning still - View | OneFootball

The Dons will be hunting for a fourth striker this summer, and if they are to re-sign Lyle Taylor, should be cautious of signing a player so senior

Highlights

AFC Wimbledon will be on the search for a fourth striker this summer, having parted ways with Josh Davison recently.

The Dons could link up with former striker Lyle Taylor, who is open to a return to the club, but with the Montserrat international being 34-years-old and having not played consistently for a prolonged period since 2021, his signature does seem risky.

And if the Dons want to have a reputation of being a club that does not make the same mistake twice, then they should review the transfer of Cody McDonald from 2017 and realise that signing a player on the wrong side of 30 has serious risks, and may not pay off despite any historic pedigree.

McDonald joined Wimbledon for free in the summer of 2017, a time when the Dons' frontline was going through a small makeover.

While they had not yet said goodbye to the aforementioned Taylor, they had parted ways with the likes of Tom Elliott, Dominic Poleon and Tyrone Barnett, and McDonald was one of three forwards brought to the club during the 17/18 season, with Kwesi Appiah signing in the summer too, and Joe Pigott joining in January.

It was hoped that McDonald would bring great experience to the side and help score goals that would ensure Wimbledon began to compete at the top end of the League One table.

However, this was not the case, as in his 32 games, he only scored seven times, with five of those strikes being in the league.

The frustration among Dons fans was that the striker, who was 31 when he joined the club, was simply not tall, strong or quick enough for the clubs 'route one' style of football, and because of that, he was often a fairly invisible character, with the team never really playing to his 'fox-in-the-box' style.

There was perhaps even more frustration that, after only one season, Dons fans were forced to say goodbye to the striker, as he was released, with McDonald reportedly being badly unfit when pre-season began for the 18/19 season.

Evidently, something went awry with the entire move, as the Englishman had notched an impressive amount of goals for Gillingham, whom he had played for before moving to the Dons. But his performances while at the Dons, as well as his struggle for fitness in 2018, perhaps proved that the player who had played admirably at Gillingham, was no longer.

On the face of it, the deal to bring McDonald to South West London should not have failed. The Dons were in search of a striker who was vastly experienced in the EFL, and had a reputation for scoring goals.

McDonald ticked both of those boxes, as during his time at Gillingham, he had excelled and became a notorious goalscorer in the EFL.

Across his 223 appearances through various loan spells and four seasons permanently at the Kentish club, he scored 81 times. Outside of playing for the Gills, he had also taken in stints at both Norwich City and Coventry City too, and had racked up a good number of appearances.

However, put simply, it did, and the reasoning behind that can perhaps be put down to mismanagement of the player and how his style of play fit in at the club, as well as how the player handled himself.

During an interview discussing McDonald during the 17/18 season, then-manager Neal Ardley revealed that the striker had arguably not been able to find full fitness while recovering from a metatarsal injury, and that it was the inability to train at their normal facilities in the winter period that had prevented the striker from making a full recovery, and instead led to further injuries

However, despite stating in that interview that McDonald was a keen trainer, his conduct during the off-season of post-2017/18 was just as manageable, but just as detrimental following its occurrence.

According to many social media reports at the time, the Essex-born striker reported back for pre-season overweight and following discussions potentially regarding this, McDonald had his contract cancelled by mutual consent and was released.

McDonald transfer failure should now be taken as a warning sign

The risks regarding signing a player on the wrong side of 30 have been made fairly clear throughout, and it is these warning signs that Jackson and his backroom staff at Wimbledon should perhaps consider looking into signing 34-year-old Lyle Taylor.

While McDonald differs slightly from the fact that Taylor, by virtue of the fact he had consistently played games before signing for Wimbledon, which Taylor will not have done if he signs, given he did not make a senior appearance for any club for an entire season, McDonald's failed spell at Wimbledon shows fitness will be a key issue.

Once McDonald got injured at Wimbledon, he stayed injured and, from then on, featured sparingly. If this happens with Taylor, which is likely given he has not had a long-term, consistent amount of playing time since a loan spell at Birmingham during the 2021/22 season, then the club will prove they do not learn lessons and do not spot the obvious warning signs that a risky transfer like Taylor might have.

It cannot be ignored that Taylor would most likely bring his goalscoring habits back to the club where he had his third best scoring season in his entire career, but equally, his age, sharpness, and most crucially, fitness, will all have to be tested vigorously before an eventual signing is perhaps made.